The College of Agriculture General Education Program assures that all undergraduates develop breadth through the completion of at least 18 semester hours of approved general education courses of which one-third of these credits will be at the 300 level or higher.
To ensure breadth, UGE courses are required in at least four of the following areas (a course may be used in only one category):
- Economics
- Social science
- Humanities
- Communications (e.g. writing or verbal intensive courses)
- Quantitative science (e.g. statistics, mathematics)
- Biological science (e.g. biology, botany)
- Physical science (e.g. chemistry, geology, physics)
- Professional college courses (architecture, agriculture,
business, education, human ecology, engineering). Acceptable courses will be determined by each department and approved by the dean’s office.
Only one agriculture course can be used to meet general education requirements. The agriculture course must be from outside the student’s departmental major, and it may only be used as a free or restricted elective in the curriculum, with the following exception:
Agriculture undergraduates may include, as part of their UGE requirements, a maximum of 3 credit hours from specifically designated upper-division (300 and above) major-specific courses or experiences. Such courses or experiences will be specifically designed for majors, incorporate the three UGE benchmarks plus a significant advanced writing experience, and must be approved by the UGE Council. Should this option be used, this course will count as the one allowable agriculture course.
Departments within the college may specify which of the eight areas their students can use to satisfy UGE requirements. The program is designed to take advantage of the strong tradition of excellence in advising to determine the specific UGE courses that are best suited to each individual.
Transfer students will follow the university general education policy in effect for this population. See the Admissions section of the Undergraduate Catalog for details.
General Education Hours Policy
All students in the General Education Program are required to complete a minimum number of University General Education* credit hours at K-State. The minimum number of University General Education credit hours is based upon total number of completed transfer credit hours accepted at K-State as shown below:
| Number of completed transfer credit hours accepted at KSU |
Minimum University Gen. Education credit hours to be taken at KSU |
| 0-7 |
18 |
| 8-29 |
12 |
| 30-44 |
9 |
| 45 & above |
6 |
All students, including transfer students, will be required to complete a minimum of six credit hours of K-State upper division University General Education courses (300 and above) as specified in the program in which they will graduate. Students with 8 or more transfer credit hours accepted are not required to meet the multiple area requirements.
NOTES: Transfer courses taken for dual credit while in high school are considered to be transfer credit. Advanced Placement credits and credit-by-examination taken prior to initial K-State enrollment count toward transfer credit policy but are not eligible to meet specific general education course requirements.
*The Kansas Board of Regents defines basic skill courses separate from general education. K-State defines basic skills as Expository Writing (6 hrs.), and Public Speaking (2 hrs.), and Mathematics (College Algebra or higher, 3 hrs.).